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VITAL FORCE AS a TRIANGULATED CONCEPT of NATURE and S(S)

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VITAL FORCE AS A TRIANGULATED CONCEPT OF NATURE AND s(S)PIRIT by KUZIPA M. B. NALWAMBA Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PHILOSOPHIAE DOCTOR in the Department of Dogmatics and Christian Ethics FACULTY OF THEOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA Supervisor: Prof. Dr Johan Buitendag 2016 © University of Pretoria DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT The copyright of this thesis is vested in the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, in accordance with the University’s policy. No portion of the text may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including analogue and digital media, without prior written permission from the University. Full acknowledgement must be made of the author and the University. I declare that this report is my own, unaided work. It is submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of PhD at the University of Pretoria. It has not been submitted previously for any degree at any other university. Signature: Kuzipa M. B. Nalwamba i © University of Pretoria DEDICATION To the children God has given me: Ntembe, Teza, Niza, Nkoli, Kowa, Munsaka, Wila, Kuzipa, Mubotu, Anika, Joshua, Dewel, Sianga. Luyando and Takondwa. I dedicate this work to you all with a hope and prayer that you will inherit a wholesome earth from us; that in your time you tread God’s earth gently, relate to it lovingly, reverently and with gratitude for the gift of God it is! ii © University of Pretoria ABSTRACT The study investigates the African notion of be-ing1, termed ‘vital force’. The enchanted (spiritually imbued) African understanding of reality lends the concept to appropriation as a pneumatic appropriation. That vital force is fundamentally understood as the principle of (all of) life in African thought. The ensuing nuances of be-ing affirm the ontological interrelatedness and interdependence that underpin community of life. The understanding that all creatures are ontologically interrelated and interdependent in the web of life through a common denominator that is mediated by the vital force, sums up the basis of African ontological thought. Such a view potentially engenders positive attitudes towards nature. The emphasis on life (vitality), its interconnectedness and interrelatedness are fundamental aspects of the African way of thinking. Relationality is therefore at the heart of African ontology. The concept of vital force, which signifies the Creator as giver and source of life (Tempels, 1959:31) could plausibly be theologically appropriated to represent the power of God, which pervades all of life. Thus postulated, vital force as a concept of nature and spirit, challenges Christianity’s anthropocentric view of creation, which is contributory to the ecological crisis (Sindima, 1990) the world faces today. By way of theoretical triangulation, this study takes into account Welker’s notion of ‘force field’ and the cosmic Spirit in Christian tradition. Welker has theologically appropriated Faraday’s idea of a magnetic force field, which he presents metaphorically, construing ‘spirit as field, the presence of God in creation’. In the same way, Pannenberg speaks of ‘a field of God’s spiritual presence in his creation’ (Pannenberg, 1991:47, 49). Moltmann speaks of ‘the life-giving Spirit in the faith of the heart and in the sociality of love (which) leads itself beyond the limits of the church to the rediscovery of the same Spirit in nature, in plants, in animals, and in the ecosystems of the earth’ (Moltmann, 1992:9-10). According to Welker (1994:340), ‘[I]n the Spirit and through the Spirit, the creation is also present and effective in God’s life’, understood as a cosmic spirit that pervades all reality. 1 Ramose’s choice to hyphenate the word is to indicate that it is a verb that signifies process and in that regard captures what he terms ‘The logic of ubuntu (which) is distinctly rheomode in character’. Rheomodic has the Greek root ‘rheo’ which means ‘to flow’ and so captures the mode of language Ramose intends ubu-ntu (be-ing) to signify in that regard. iii © University of Pretoria Ruach is the biblical Hebrew term for s(S)pirit. Its translations into Greek and Latin as pneuma and spiritus, respectively, set the stage for the subsequent Cartesian dualistic distinction between spirit and matter, a dualism that has endured and shaped an entire generation. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) offers resources for a theological response to the ecocrisis the world faces. This study attempts an appropriation of the African concept of vital force to articulate an ecological pneumatology viewed through the prism of African cultural wisdom and thought that transcends a dualistic understanding of reality. Filtered through that prism, the notion of vital force, arguably, reinforces the biblical/theological understanding of the cosmic Spirit of God that is advanced as the foundation for the argument for the eco-pneumatology proposed by this study. This concept is presented within the methodological approach of triangulation employing the strategy of convergent validity consisting of, (1) the African concept of vital force; (2) the Christian understanding of cosmic Spirit who indwells all of life and (3) the appropriated scientific notion of force field. The study attempts to make a contribution, from the standpoint of African vitalism, to ongoing discourse on Christian responses to the ecological crisis in order to understand reality. The development of a well-rounded eco-pneumatological basis for appropriating the resources from pneumatological frameworks remains an area that requires further exploration. What this study has attempted is to put forward a tentative model without particular contours of interdisciplinary explorations that the postmodern world has made available. The dynamic interaction of the methodology applied echoes the dynamic interaction within nature itself, which affirms the transversal nature of interpretations of reality, and which need to be brought into a mutually accountable interaction without totalising views yet one that transcends foundationalist views of understanding reality. In that regard, this study acknowledges that theological reflection happens within particularities of one’s embeddedness in a particular cultural context. For me, this study therefore is an attempt to understand reality as a responsible participant in the collective human search for truth, from my specific location as an African Christian, living in an era when the ecological crisis is one of the greatest threats we face. In the course of the study, it will be proposed that our collective experiences and experiential understanding shape our epistemic values and ethics and the ways we think about God and God’s action in the world. iv © University of Pretoria Moreover, through critical exploration of the experiential and interpretative roots of African traditional thought, science and the Christian faith converge in a pneumatological paradigm that does not betray the biblical tradition. Theology is a scientific discipline that indeed contributes to our understanding of reality in a critically accountable way. The cross-contextual conversation that ensues, rather than closing the argument, opens up exciting avenues for further study. The static notions of understanding are transcended and give way for an incrementally flourishing of intersections of knowledge and the possibility of an emergence of ‘distinct family resemblances; the interweaving of fibres’ (Van Huyssteen, 2003:430) that views ‘otherness’ in creation as gift rather than threat or instrumental object. The multiplicity of voices that this disposition makes possible strengthens the public voice of the Christian faith. It is for this reason that dialogue with other disciplines is important. Contemplating creation from a pneumatological perspective gives nuances to natural theology that calls Christian theology to participate in the worldwide ecological debate and epistemic isolation that denying natural theology imposed on it. The truths we read in and learn from nature reveal the potentialities that the Spirit makes possible because the Creator is present in Creation in an intricate web of relationships in the community of life. Resituated within that realm of the Spirit, a multiplicity of voices and perspectives become part of the ongoing conversation. It is within that pluralistic open space of the ongoing conversation that this study locates the claim that the African notion of vital force is a viable concept of nature and s(S)pirit. v © University of Pretoria ABBREVIATIONS ATR/ATRs African Traditional Religions CWM Council for World Mission EIA Environmental Impact Assessment LZNP Lower Zambezi National Park LZTA Lower Zambezi Tourist Association MEP Mars Exploration Project NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration UCZ United Church of Zambia UK United Kingdom UN United Nations WARC World Alliance of Reformed Churches WCC World Council of Churches WCRC World Communion of Reformed Churches WWF World Wildlife Fund ZEMA Zambia Environmental Management vi © University of Pretoria ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my supervisor, Prof. Johan Buitendag, who guided and demanded more of me throughout the process. Thank you for being a rigorous supervisor yet one who did not make this a lifeless academic journey. You treated me like a friend and colleague and I am deeply grateful for that affirmation. Thanks to Prof. Vuyani Vellem for the stimulating conversations and suggestions that introduced me to the
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